Finding a roommate

mustangcy

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2006
3,829
896
113
Bloomfield
There's a Facebook page where incoming students can meet and exchange interests and find roommates. I think it's "Iowa State University Class of 2027" maybe? Your daughter will need to pull it up and request being added. Then she'll be able to share interests and find people who might be a good fit. Both my daughters used it, they interacted with others and when they found people that seemed like a good fit, they met up for coffee/lunch to meet in person. Might be worth checking out, worked for us. Smart move not wanting her to room with a HS friend, both our girls had/have friends going to ISU but knew that'd be a disaster.
My daughter is starting in the fall as well and this is what she did. She found a great roomate on it and they already have found two more for the adjacent room they share a bathroom with. She better get on it though..
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gonzo

BCClone

Well Seen Member.
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Sep 4, 2011
61,896
56,539
113
Not exactly sure.
Be careful on roommates especially for guys, you may get one who partied in HS and carried it over for the first couple of years of college. Makes it hard to study and stay in school.

My apologies to my college roommates as that is what they probably said about me as everyone but the last one flunked out. Now, thinking about it, I graduated and they didn’t, so that means maybe tell your kid to drink heavy.
 

FallOf81

Well-Known Member
Oct 24, 2017
2,485
3,780
113
My first roommate was a absolute weirdo. To this day I am waiting to hear his name on the news connected to a missing persons or murder case. He would leave in the morning about 3:00 am and get back around 7:00 am. No alarm or nothing, just wake up and quietly leave.

I moved out over Xmas break without telling him I was going to. he was pretty shocked when he came back from break and I was in a different room on the dorm floor.
Dairy farmer?
 

cyclone13

Well-Known Member
Apr 7, 2009
3,190
937
113
There is no magic formula re: roommates. Wife got assigned to someone she didn't know from another country and they got along great and stayed in touch until after graduation. She was wonderful.

Another friend got assigned with someone who apparently had a strong body odor and she had to run away to her cousin who stayed off campus. She just couldn't stand the smell.

Daughter of a former colleague (not at ISU) had that FB stuffs where you can contact your roommates before (they were informed that they were assigned as roommates and were welcomed to contact each other). From the beginning, it looked like they would get along great. Not so after a month and at the end of the semester the gal moved out. 2nd semester, she moved to a suite (4 girls in 2 rooms). One ended up bringing her BF who smoked weed and ended up accusing everyone of racism when was told to stop or being reported to the RA.
 

Sousaclone

Well-Known Member
Apr 29, 2006
1,801
1,124
113
North of Seattle
It's hit or miss. My freshman roommate's good friend from HS ended up turning into a druggie/nut case and ended up dropping out by his sophmore year. Meanwhile we were two people in the random category and roomed together for 4.5 years.

The other big thing with rooming (in my opinion) is to get involved with something on campus. I had both the ISUCFVMB and the bridge team that gave me exposure and options to hang out with other people. So I wasn't hanging out with my roommate all the damn time.
 

Cyinthenorth

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Mar 29, 2013
14,468
10,427
113
35
Dubuque
Went random twice and pretty much went 0/2. The first go around was a 4-person room, so me and 3 other guys. I got along with one of them, indifferent towards another, and couldn't stand the 3rd one. I switched schools at semester and could've joined my cousins at ISU who were both my age and getting an apartment together, but for reasons I can't remember, chose to move back home and commute to NIACC. Go Trojans! Part 2 of random experience was at UNI where I joined up in the dorms with a dude who seemed nice enough, but I inevitably withdrew and moved back home after a couple weeks. I'm not sure it had anything to do with him. I was a little love stricken at the time and my head wasn't right. The randomness of my situation didn't make sense and was making me really uneasy about life. I had left a girl that I thought I loved at home, where I also still had friends and a decent full time job.

Took a year off from school and broke up with the girl. Went back to UNI but this time made sure I knew who my roommates were. I was done messing around after two not so great experiences and really just wanted to increase my odds for academic success, which to me meant not having anxiety about not knowing the people I lived with. Met friends through work, classes, student orgs etc. as others have noted. I'd probably do it the same way again if I had to. To me, it is 100% dependent on the personality of the individual whether the random method will work or not. Sometimes you just can't force a square peg into a round hole.
 

Latest posts

Help Support Us

Become a patron